ECW 1999
by FrozenSunx
Summary: New on the brutally tense roster of ECW full of assholes and jerks of all sizes Michelle finds herself falling for the best the roster has to offer, Rob Van Dam. She swore she never wanted to look at another man again the when she saw him in the flesh for the first time, it was like heaven on earth on the extreme brand. Circa 1999.
1. Chapter 1

Michelle held her breath again before setting foot in the ECW arena. Though this was now her second time entering, she still caught butterflies for this new experience. Just a month ago she was wrestling at her old development and training her ass off. Who knew one phone call could impact her so much? All week she's been getting congratulation calls from old friends and family to the point where it became a little annoying at one point. Michelle would never tell though because there is no place to go but up and she was getting there.

Brief glances were drawn to Michelle as she opened and stepped through the door. Everyone went back to what they were doing leaving Michelle as another object of the background within seconds. _Damn. Why was it so tense here?_ She thought. From the crew members to the wrestlers not one smile on their faces. Not one sign of happiness of being here. Everyone looked so serious; definitely not what she had imagined it to be. Though, Michelle was always one to exaggerate this was pretty bad even on a realistic level. She hoped in the next year or so she wouldn't be as miserable looking as them.

Walking down the hall, drawing more temporary glances from the other wrestlers, Michelle made her way to meet the general manager, Paul Heyman. She wasn't scheduled to make a debut for another couple of weeks so she had no idea what this meeting would be about.

Michelle smiled politely greeting her boss who greeted her back saying, "Mackenzie, come in!"

"It's Michelle," the blonde said trying to disguise the slight annoyance in her voice.

"Close enough. I didn't get to tell you last week but welcome to ECW. I'm glad to have you here so far."

"The pleasure is mine." Michelle said.

"As you've known before you're not set to debut for a little while but today I want to talk to you about who you'll be to the fans," he started. "I want to keep your name as is but I have interest in seeing you as a valet. There's a tag team that I think you'll be perfect with. Balls and Spike."

"Come again?" Michelle asked. Those words together didn't sound right at all.

"Spike Dudley and Balls Mahoney. I'm sure you'll see them sometime tonight. By first glance they might not look like it but they're a decent tag team around here."

"So you want me to run around with a tag team?" Michelle asked sounding slightly displeased.

"Well, it's a start. I know what you're thinking but you have to crawl before you walk. You have to show these people, and me, a little of you before they can't get enough. You'll never get too far if you shove yourself down these people's throats."

Michelle wasn't sure if he was giving her career advice or slightly flirting with her but either way she didn't care to hear it. "I understand," she lied. "I'll try to have an open mind."

"That's what I like to hear," the GM said with a smile on his face.

Michelle said her thank yous and left the office. Where was she headed now? She didn't know. She wasn't scheduled so she couldn't go into the locker room. She didn't know anyone so she couldn't just hang around and to make things worse, the show wasn't starting for another hour. Michelle did something that she did best. She sat down in one corner, listened to her CD player and played with a rubix cube; not exactly fun but it killed a lot of time.

About forty minutes in, Michelle was interrupted from her deep musical session by the feel over a hard sudden vibration. The blonde looked up to see a live brawl taking place in front of her! Bodies were being driven into wall and tables, steel chairs were flying but no cameras.

Michelle didn't quite know how to react at first. The action was so dynamic that any sudden move could cause danger to her. On the other hand, the longer she stays is the worst it'll get. It was like she couldn't win.

The brawl did indeed get worse even with security and referees trying to calm it down. The blonde saw an opening out of the corner and quickly jumped up.

"Terrance you gotta calm down. It's not worth it," a referee said straining to hold back the powerhouse of a man also known as Rhino. He was so fired up Michelle doubted that he even noticed that he had been busted open by a previous chair shot.

Michelle was almost out of the scramble when she was startled by a loud hiss. "Fuck off!" Rhino shrieked over powering the referee then taking a giant step back then pushing him away again.

Michelle let out a scream of pain as she hit the floor. When Rhino was pushing away the referee one of his elbows were violently introduced to Michelle's nose. It wasn't long before her tongue tasted the sour flavor of blood leaking from her nose. To her surprise the brawl was still going on with not one person aiding to her injury.

The blonde tried to pick herself up, holding her nose she slightly jumped from the pain she felt when doing so. This time she tried moving much quicker than she did before. She successfully got away from the crowd; at least she thought she did until she felt her back being pushed forward nearly stumbling flat on her face again.

"Holy shit," she heard a masculine voice utter before her. She had no care in the world who it was because at this moment masculine was the enemy.

"Are you ok?" the same voice asked. This time the blonde didn't have a choice but to look who the voice was coming from. The guy who spoke had blonde hair cut short with dark brown facial hairs; Michelle couldn't help but notice how small he was standing at about five feet nine inches; he couldn't be more than 175 pounds tops. By the athletic tape on his arms and the kneepads underneath his overalls it seemed like he was one of the wrestlers. How can a guy this small possibly be a part of this?

"Not exactly" she said. Wasn't it obvious?

"Stupid question, I know. Let's get you out of here," he said.

The little guy signaled her away from where they were and started down the hall. Michelle, of course, followed despite the fact that she didn't know who he was. They stopped at a red door that read MEDICAL on it. The guy opened the door allowing Michelle to go in. Inside looked like a doctor's office with a sink, pictures of corny jokes pertaining to health, and a bed. But no doctor, nurse or anything.

"Now this is unprofessional," the guy said.

"We still have another fifteen minutes before the show starts," Michelle said looking at the clock.

"That's no excuse. I swear for such a dangerous place you'd think the medical team would be more attentive."

Michelle chuckled then halted after she felt a drop of blood fall onto her leg.

The little guy drew some paper by the sink and handed it to the blonde.

"Thank you," she said holding the tissue onto her nose.

"I'm Spike," the little guy finally said extending his hand.

Michelle giggled looking down at her left hand that had dry blood on it.

"Oh, right," he said.

"I'm Michelle," shaking his hand with her other and non-bloody hand.

"Tell me Michelle, are you new here?"

"Can't you tell?" She said harsher than she wanted to but played it off by giggling. "My second week here and I find myself in the middle a homicide brawl."

"Be prepared for that. There's really no way around it except for being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there."

"I had nowhere to go. One minute I'm listening to music, innocently may I add, next minute I look up to see a riot."

Spike chuckled. "Also be prepared for that. You really don't get much of a warning."

"Can you believe I got elbowed in the nose and no one even looked my way?"

"I guess it's safe to say welcome to ECW."

It was an hour into the show and Michelle had found herself a friend. He might be little and as far as protecting her from future outbreaks like the one that occurred earlier he was useless, but dammit Michelle had found herself a friend. At first impression he talked a little too much and his jokes were corny sometimes but the blonde appreciated the effort he put into being a nice person. It didn't seem like there were many of those around.

"I'm sorry again about your nose," Spike said as he watched the show from the backstage monitors.

"I'm sorry I have to wear this big ol' brace on my nose. I look like an idiot," Michelle said tracing the outlines of her bandaged nose. "So much for being the new girl. Can you imagine what people are saying about me?"

"To be quite honest with you no one really cares about you."

"Ouch," Michelle said. She felt her stomach turn slightly and was urged to get up and leave.

"No one cares about me either, I've been here for three years and I can't get half the locker room to say my name right!" Spike said in a slightly frustrated tone.

"So you're saying there's no chance of earning respect around here?"

"Correct."

"Well that sucks."

"Not really. When you love being in the ring as much as I do, pity locker room respect becomes an illusion."

"I must admit I like where your mind is. Right before the brawl I went into the GMs office to touch up on what I'd be doing as far as a gimmick."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing I wanted to hear. He basically said I'd be a valet till further notice."

"That's not so bad; who knows if you hang with the right people it could be a lot of fun. Who are you gonna work with anyways?" Spike asked.

Michelle opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by the sound of commotion.

"Champ. Champ wait up," a guy that looks to be an interviewer said in an out of breath tone. It was like he was running after someone but the person he was running after was behind him. It was probably for the camera.

The guy who was behind the interviewer wore a belt around his waist, the "champ", looked rather annoyed. His face was sweaty and he looked out of breath himself. He probably just competed.

Michelle couldn't speak at all now. The only thing she could do was look ahead of her, staring down what she saw taking place in front of her. It was like heaven on earth, better yet heaven in hell, the "Champ" being heaven and harsh environment of ECW being hell. His features were beyond description. He stood at average height; his ring attire played a role in exposing his perfectly toned body, he had dark hair that came up to his shoulders in length the way it put back in a ponytail. He spoke in such a calm tone despite the fact that he was being annoyed; and as he annunciated his words the dimples in his cheeks would show itself.

"…That won't be the case the next time he steps in the ring with Rob. Van. Dam," as the champ said his name he showed off a taunt to go with it. After that he walked off with the cameras still on the interviewer. Just like that he was gone. It wasn't fair to Michelle who still didn't answer Spike's question. She wasn't mentally capable of doing so after what she just witnessed, who she had witnessed. Part of her wanted to get up and run after him but the Michelle she really was stayed in her seat with her eyes glued on where Rob had just been standing.

"And this is the part where you answer me question?" Spike said sounding a little annoyed.

Michelle regained her composure, not even sure when she lost it. "I'm really not a forgetful person but what exactly was your question again? I'm sorry."

"You said Heyman had a role for you, what was it?"

"Guess."

"Dr. Death's wife?"

"As a matter of fact don't guess," Michelle chuckled. "We're going to be working together."

"What are the odds?" Spike said with a smile on his face.

"He also said something about working with a guy named Balls. I was too disturbed to ask any further."

"You mean Big Balls?"

"Yo," said a third voice in the two voice conversation. Michelle and Spike looked over to see a heavyset man with arm tattoos wearing a skirt—right next to them. Besides all of that he was rather unattractive.

"Wassup, Balls?"

"Sup Spike?" Balls said after the two exchanged their hand greetings. "And hello to you," he said looking at Michelle.

Michelle had never been looked at like she was being looked at right now. She felt weird trying to fight back the disgust by putting on a smile. "Hi."

"Balls, relax this is Michelle. Michelle this is Balls." Spike sensed that Michelle was uncomfortable.

"Nice to meet you," Balls flashed a toothy smile to show off his not-so-toothy mouth.

This really made Michelle feel sick. How was it that just a few minutes ago she had seen the most beautiful thing to walk this earth now she was looking in the face at the complete opposite?

"Michelle was just telling me that all three of us are going to be acquainted onscreen," Spike continued.

"Not to be rude but what happened to your nose, sweetheart?" Balls asked.

Michelle felt on the cast on her nose. She was so caught up in the activities in front of her she forgot about her injury. Maybe it was a good thing? "I got myself into a little mix-up earlier."

"Holy shit, you were in that?" Balls sounded so impressed. "I overheard someone talking about it when I was on the toilet, you know dropping my kids off?" he said gesturing to Spike.

Spike grinned back then remembered Michelle, who was still very uncomfortable. "Balls, that's disgusting man."

"Right, my bad," Balls continued. "You ok though?"

"I could be worse, thanks for asking. That's the last time I sit in the main lobby." Michelle joked.

"Woah, you were just sitting in the main lobby?" Balls asked.

"Yes, I had nowhere else to go…" Michelle said.

"Michelle you can't just sit in the main lobby it's a death trap. There's always something going on there," Spike said.

"I had no idea. I guess I learned my lesson the hard way," Michelle said. "But if that's the case shouldn't there be tighter security or consequences for things like this?"

Balls and Spike said nothing and only looked at each other before letting out a shared chuckle.

"Do you know where you are? This is _Extreme_ Championship Wrestling." Balls said.

"You are working with ex-criminals and just straight up messed up people who show no sympathy to the human anatomy, male or female." Spike added. "The only thing unrealistic here are the lines we have to read before airing. Otherwise there are no rules."

Balls let out another chuckle. "You sound like Spike on his first day."

"Fuck you Balls!" Spike said slapping him on his tattooed arm.

Michelle couldn't help but giggle. As intense as the introduction to her new workplace sounded she wasn't as afraid as she thought she would be. Something gave her the feeling that as long as she stuck with these two everything might be just alright.


	2. Chapter 2

Next week was nothing like the week before. Michelle ended up having to socialize with her fellow female co-workers. It was Paul Heyman's way of Michelle letting people know who the newest addition to ECW was. Unfortunately for Michelle, socializing wasn't her best skill.

After coming through the front doors of the building Michelle was immune to being ignored. Pushing herself down the hall she came into a locker room for the female entertainers. Inside the room already was a red headed female who was rather busty. On a rate from 1 to 10 she was fairly an 8 to be nice. It was no surprise that the sound of the door opening wasn't anything to catch the red head's attention. Michelle plastered a smile on her face preparing to mingle.

"Hi," said the blonde.

The red head turned around her face showing no excitement looking the blonde up and down before saying "Who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm Michelle; kinda the new kid on the block. I'll be a part of the roster officially in a few weeks…"

"Didn't ask you all that," the red head said flatly.

Michelle picked up her vibe. Clearly today wasn't the girl's day. "Oh so …you mind telling me your name?"

"Yes I do," said the red head again before leaving the room without another word. That was the worst case scenario that had just happened. The girl was a complete bitch and for no reason at all.

"Oh that's nice," Michelle said to no one in particular because it had only been them two in the room.

Since she had nothing to change into or out of she made her way towards the full length mirror on the far side of the room. In the mirror she reflected on her 5 foot 10 figure. The long blonde hair was worn straight falling right under her bra strap. She was slender yet the jeans she wore hugged her perfectly. Her stomach was perfectly toned with her white belly shirt exposing it. On her face was still her nose brace which stuck out like a sore thumb. Fortunately, she was able to take it off with the EMT's care. The show wasn't to start for another half hour which meant she was stuck with that thing on her face for another half hour. Michelle started to regret coming in so early.

Bursting through the door was another female with very dirty blonde hair. She was average height with a memorable tattoo on her shoulder. Surely she looked a lot nicer than the one she had saw before.

"Oh, hey," said the girl with a friendly smile on her face. "I don't remember seeing you before."

"This is my third week here actually. I'm Michelle," she said in a nicest tone of voice.

"I'm Amy, also known as Ms. Congeniality. Nice to see a new female face around here, it's been the longest," Amy said adding a laugh.

"Believe me, I'm excited. Look out for my debut in two weeks' time,"

"Sure will, I gotta run though I'll see you around," Amy smiled at her once more before leaving the locker room.

A couple minutes after Michelle left too. She didn't have the patience to wait around for more people to come in and out the locker room while she just stayed there all night. Instead she went looking for Spike and Balls. The only problem was she didn't know where to look. It's not that she didn't have all the time in the world the show after all was about two hours.

Walking down the long hallways Michelle heard two voices grow louder as the came closer to them. The first face she saw was Paul Heyman's and his loud voice that she could hear from down the hall. Michelle nearly fell over when she saw the second face. It was _him_ again, the Champ. He wasn't exactly in the condition he was in before; his body wasn't erupted in sweat. As usual his hair was tied back into a pony tail and his ring attire was red with the Ying-Yang symbols on it. Michelle tried pulling herself together walking towards them but before she could pass them she heard "Manny!" come out Heyman's lips with excitement.

The false attempt to say her name made Michelle's face flush with embarrassment. He was standing right there for god's sake! "It's Michelle," she corrected for the hundredth time.

"Yes, right," Heyman said paying no attention to it. "I'm sure you've heard of RVD," he said gesturing to the handsome man standing now a foot away from her. "Rob this is Michelle, she's the new talent," he said to the champion who's face looked neutral.

Michelle's stomach was erupting so much that if she were to bend over she was sure it'll come out of her ass. She couldn't do anything but put on a weak smile towards the superstar who smiled back at her with his dimples showing itself. "Pleased to meet you Michelle," he said holding out his hand.

All Michelle could think of is how he said her name. Her body went cold replying the seven letters. Realizing that his hand was out for her to shake it she snapped out of her daydream and connected her hand with his. His hand was so warm and soft and the way he looked her dead in the eye when he shook it made her crazy. "Likewise," was all she could say. She prayed to god that she didn't look stupid right now.

"Rob and I have some prepping to do for tonight's show. Glad you two have met, see you around though," Heyman said yet he didn't move a muscle from where he and Rob were standing. Michelle guessed that was Paul's polite way of saying beat it. Sure enough Michelle made her way from the two passing one more glace at Rob, who was looking at her still, before she left. She quickly turned around before proceeding.

"I need you to pull through for me tonight, of all nights this night is important," continued Heyman.

Rob nodded in agreement slowly taking in what his boss was saying. In truth, he wasn't paying much attention to what was being said to him. "Right," he added.

"She's a nice piece, huh?" a smirk was on Paul's face who noticed Rob's absent mind. The champion didn't even notice that he was staring into space.

"What?" Rob asked snapping out his mini daze. "Oh yeah, she's cute I guess. Don't worry Paul I got you tonight."

Once Michelle was out of earshot her stomach started doing back flips for real this time. A smile grew on her face as she walked. What she was looking for, she couldn't quite remember. All she knew is that RVD knew her name. All she could think of was the way he firmly gripped her hand with his smooth touch. It drove her nuts that she barely had a conversation with the guy and yet she was fantasizing of him. This wasn't like Michelle.

"Geez, the way you're smirking I'd assume you've won the lotto," Spikes voice popped in out of nowhere.

The voice made Michelle jump, then realizing who it was from she gave him a smile. _You have no idea. _"I was looking for you. New rule, no coming in before the show starts. The free time is driving me off the wall."

"It's only a matter of time my friend," he was still suspicious of the grin on her face. "What you been up to?"

"Trying to socialize," Michelle said flatly recalling her fail attempt of introducing herself. "I knew the people here looked snobbish but I didn't know they actually were."

"Socialize?" Spike asked. "What'chu gon do that for?" he joked.

"Heyman put me up to it. I go into the locker room and the first person I meet was a total bitch. She wouldn't even tell me her name."

"Red hair, big tits?"

Michelle looked at her small friend. "You know her?"

Spike nodded. "Francine is a bitch to everybody. A major kiss-ass. She doesn't associate with anyone but main eventers. If you were with Heyman you would have seen a totally different response."

"That figures. We'll never be friends I guess," she scoffed.

"There there, no need to be upset. She isn't the only bitch around here."

"Great, there's a clan?"

"It's just hard to make friends in a place like this. What kind of friend graters another friend's face then takes them out for a beer? It just doesn't work."

Something about what Spike said made Michelle laugh. Maybe it was what he said or how serious he said it.

"What's got you so frenetic?" the voice of Balls didn't interrupt Michelle's blissful laugh but it did slow it down.

"I was just telling her about Francine, Balls." Spike said.

"You mean furry Francine? Don't mess with her, she'll have your pipe leaking—"

"Balls!" Spike tried to interrupt Balls' disturbing sentence to be, but Michelle already made out what he meant. Spike himself looked like he was trying to refrain from laughing. "It's too early man."

"Normally I'd lie and say I want to know more but in this case I'm going to be very direct and say I don't," Michelle said. "That's more about the girl I'd ever want to know in a lifetime."

"Just thought I'd inform about who you're shaking hands with." Balls said.

"Don't worry we won't be shaking hands even if I wanted to."

The night was its usual buzz, a lot of bloodshed and chair swinging. The way the crowd was so loyal and amused by what they saw stunned Michelle. She dreamed of those people screaming her name and selling out tickets to see her. She wanted to feel the adrenaline of a pumped up and it was only a matter of time.

Spike couldn't help but notice how alert Michelle was when RVD's match came along. For the twenty minutes she barely said a word with her eyes glued to the monitor. Every hit Van Dam took she flinched every hit he gave she smiled. It was like she was right outside the ring and it annoyed the hell out of Spike. When Van Dam finally won the match and got off the screen it was like she had snapped out of a trance.

"I'm glad you're enjoying the program," Spike said when he knew he'd have her attention again.

"That match was awesome, you have to admit," Michelle argued after catching on to his sarcasm.

"I've seen better," Spike muttered although he secretly agreed with Michelle. Van Dam knew how to sell out a show.

"I can't wait till it's me out there," Michelle changed the subject.

Spike's face lightened. "You're in for a treat then. Once the crowd gets behind you it's like a high you can't get down from."

"If only I'd be able to actually _do_ something," Michelle said flatly.

"You still down about that eh?"

"Don't think I don't want to be here because I do. I just wish there was a little more for me, you know?" Michelle confessed. She longed to be a part of the act and with two weeks remaining until her debut it bothered her more and more. She didn't spend years of training just to stand at ringside, she was a wrestler dammit!

"You have to crawl before you run. If Heyman were to put you in the mix right away he'd get a lot of crap for doing it. You have to prove yourself before he can do anything with you. That part is all up to you, Michelle." Spike said. "Believe you me we all been through it."

Michelle sighed. It made sense, it all made sense to her. She just had to accept that she wasn't the only one on the brand. It was all about showing people who you were and what you can do. Absolutely nothing was handed to you. "I guess it's my turn then."

"And when someone new comes, it'll be their turn. That's how the ball rolls."

There was nothing more to be said about that topic. In two weeks' time Michelle was going to go out there and work her ass off showing the world and Heyman just what she could do. "Oh shoot," Michelle broke the thought. "I was supposed to take my bandage off," she remembered. Quickly she jumped up from where she was sitting.

"You want me to go with you?" Spike asked.

"No, it's fine. I'd better go before it gets even more crowded in there."

"Be careful."

Michelle marched ahead of her making her way into the EMT's room. As horrible as it was Michelle had become immune to that big cast on her nose that she hardly remembered it was there half the time. The blonde's stomach turned. Half the time meant an hour ago when she had met RVD for the first time. How could she have seriously been brave enough walking around with that thing on her face? Opening the door to the room she was surprised to see nobody in there. She guessed all talent got immediate attention for their injuries making the process faster. Walking into the room she regretted not knocking.

There he was again, RVD in the flesh. Only this time his ring attire was rolled down exposing his perfectly toned chest. His shoulder was being taped up and on his forehead were a few bandages from stitching to guess. His body was sweaty for obvious reasons. He looked up to see Michelle in the door way, only his face didn't change it just remained neutral as always.

"I'm so sorry I should have knocked…" Michelle started to turn around to leave before he said. "Its fine, I'm almost done anyway."

Michelle stood in place her face hot she looked around dreading being where she was right now. It's astonishing how such a good thing can be so nerve-rackingly intense. A few minutes of quiet surfaced the room. Michelle was afraid if she tried breaking the third wall she'd put her foot in her mouth so she intended to keep it the way it was.

"Where you from, Michelle?" Rob broke the silence.

Trying to project her voice Michelle said, "Palatka." Looking up at him nervously, "Florida."

"I know where that is. I wrestled out there one summer." He nodded, "I had a feeling you were from the south," he continued.

"How could you tell?" Michelle said finally finding her voice. It was foolish that as a 24-year-old she was talking to him like she was a child.

"Your accent is a big give away," he gave off a little grin. It was the first Michelle had seen him smirk in any way at all. The very thought that he was smirking at her nonetheless made Michelle melt.

"You're all done Rob," the EMT said interrupting any further conversation that could have possibly escalated. It was crazy that Michelle had contemplated injuring him again just so he'd stay longer.

Rob got up from the seating to make Michelle take his place, which she did, as she sat she expected him to leave but he didn't. He just stood there looking at her probably waiting for her to say something else.

"You have something against accents?" Michelle continued as the EMT slowly removed the bandage from her nose. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable position to talk but it was worth a shot.

"No accents are good," Rob said. "Tells you a little bit about where a person's from."

Michelle chuckled. "There's nothing extravagant about Florida I promise."

"There's still a little bruising but it doesn't look half bad. What I need you to do is rub some Vaseline on it daily and it'll be back to normal in no time," said the EMT.

Michelle got up to review the reflection in the mirror on the cabinet. She smiled at what she saw looking back at her, it was her true self again. No caste just a naked face. The bridge of it was still a little black and blue but it was nothing a little makeup couldn't hide. The blonde looked beside her reflection to see RVD sneaking a glimpse at her from the spot he was standing behind her. It was clear he didn't know that his sights were perfectly visible in the mirror. Looking down, Michelle could feel her face flush as she blushed. God, how many times did she do that in one night?

Without warning or another word Rob made his way out the EMT's door followed by the loud slam of the door shutting. It nearly startled the blonde and only took her a couple seconds to realize that he was gone. Michelle didn't think much of it like she thought she would. She guessed since he was Heyman's main man he'd be a very busy guy. But a "goodbye" surely wouldn't hurt.


	3. Chapter 3

**I wanna thank you guys so much for the reviews, they really make an impact on me :3 I really have the hots for this story and I hope you guys keep reviewing. Now, without further ado here is chapter 3 :D **

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Coming out into the open crowd Michelle felt a tingle at the pit of her stomach. The time had finally come where she got to show everyone just who she was.

"On the way to the ring accompanied by Michelle McCool, Spike Dudley and Balls Mahoney," said the announcer. Walking down the ramp she put on a smile on her face waving to the crowd that cheered them. It was the first match of the night and people were anxious to see a good match and Michelle had no doubts that they were going to get what they wished for.

"And their opponents accompanied by Francine, Tommy Dreamer and Jerry Lynn!" As their theme music played boos surfaced through the arena. Michelle fixed her eyes to see the same girl from the locker room emerge to the ring. Her face didn't seem very pleasant, almost like she was disgusted. Francine's eyes were fixed on Michelle but the blonde didn't flinch she returned the look.

As the opposing team made their way into the ring they stood about two feet from Michelle, Spike, and Balls. None of the faces from either team looked pleased at this point and everyone knew what would happen soon enough.

Francine still didn't take her eye off Michelle who still wasn't intimidated. A smile grew red haired woman which Michelle couldn't comprehend. She then mouthed a few words taking small steps towards the blonde. "I'm gonna teach you a lesson newbie," she muttered. "Just who do you think you are? These people came to see me!" this time meeting her hand to Michelle's face. The crowd responded to the slow with "ouuus" and "owws".

Holding her cheek Michelle glared deadly at the other woman. "Whatcha gonna do?" Francine asked with a satisfied smirk on her face. Before she expected it Michelle returned a nice slap on her own which sent the red head to the floor. Before Francine could get up, Michelle pounced on top of her delivering a few punches until she felt a strong hand grip her by the hair. The hold was so tight it made her head hurt she couldn't even see who was doing this. It was finally released with the sound of a big _thud_ to the face of Jerry Lynn by Balls. The match had really begun and Michelle did the smart thing by rolling out of the ring.

The match was pretty good; the fans loved every moment of it. It was everything hardcore was about with more weapons than Michelle could ever imagine. She got in a few cheap shots from time to time and even dragged Spike on top of Tommy for a pin which they were victorious. Holding up their hands in victory Michelle could feel the adrenaline rush of a perfect debut.

The first thing Michelle noticed after the match was the temperature change from the arena to backstage. Although she didn't do nearly as much physical activity that Spike and Balls did, she felt herself getting hot and eventually sweating. Despite the occupation she had, sweat was always a pet peeve of Michelle.

"I think I'm gonna go hit the showers." Michelle said to the two.

"Maybe later the three of us could celebrate," Spike smiled. "You know, for you debut."

Michelle gave back a smile. "I'd love that a lot," she said.

"See you soon then," Spike said.

Off to the locker room Michelle went glaring at any other faces in the hallway as she got there. It amazed her on how people still didn't look her way despite the fact that she was just in the ring making the crowd holler. By this time Michelle knew that if you weren't the main event man people didn't care about you; but she couldn't help but reminisce on the times before she got to ECW. The organization she had been on before was the complete opposite. Everyone cared about each other and wanted to see each other excel. When she walked into the place she could feel the positive energy from everyone. People actually greeted each other and complimented on how good their matches were.

Opening the locker room door Michelle spotted more faces than she had seen earlier. Unlike before they all at once turned their attention to who was at the door before proceeding to continue what they were doing. Michelle had no cares in introducing herself so she isolated herself to one corner of the room unpacking what she was going to wear after her shower.

Without warning the door of the locker room swung open leaving everyone including Michelle looking up. The blonde nearly jumped at the sight of the door opening with an angry motion. Standing in the doorway was none other than Francine. She looked just as pissed as she did earlier in the ring if not more.

"Where is she?" she demanded at no one in particular. No one in the room said anything but gave each other confusing looks as to who she was talking about. "Where is that _bitch_, who attacked me tonight?" she asked again. The ladies in the room were now relieved of their disarray signaling towards the back of the room where Michelle sat.

"You," The red haired woman charged towards the back of the room with anger in her voice. As she approached closer to Michelle, the blonde stood up preparing for whatever Francine had in mind.

"Did you really think you'd get away with what you pulled out there newbie?" the red head asked coldly. Her fingers were shaking with adrenaline as if she was trying her hardest not to strike the blonde.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Michelle said simply crossing her arms under her chest.

"Are you fucking slow? You attacked me! I couldn't even defend myself and you still you kept going," Francine was fuming at this point. She didn't seem to notice that everyone in the locker room had stopped their conversations giving the two their undivided attention.

"You must have forgotten that it was you who came at me first. It was you who slapped me first. You got exactly what you deserved for thinking you could ever bully me."

"Somebody had to take you off that high horse you were on. You think your some shit because you roll with that midget and that fat boy?" Francine scoffed. "Let me remind you that you are nothin'. And as far as I'm concerned you don't got what it takes to be somethin'. Maybe if you take note of me you'll probably get far."

Michelle chuckled at the comment. "So you're saying I have to kiss the right asses and suck the right dicks like you?" The whole room erupted in gasps and giggled. Surely they didn't expect such bravery from a newbie.

The red head's face irrupted with anger. "When I'm done with you you're going to dread the day you said that," she said before giving a right hand to the blonde. Michelle never expected her punch to be so strong. A hard slap to the face followed making the blonde lean back on the wall for support. "This is what happened when you don't respect you're elders you little bitch!" Francine taunted before giving another slap.

Michelle's fist tensed up. There was no way she was going to let her win. A loud moan came from the red head as Michelle drove her fist in her gut. Another shrill of pain escaped Francine as Michelle took a fist full of the red head's hair and she drove it into the wall. Francine could barely stand at this point falling to her knees. Michelle dragged the red head up by her hair. "You will never put your hands on me again, you hear me?" she yelled sinisterly into Francine's ear.

"What's going on in here?" a voice came from the other end of the door. Michelle paid no mind to it as she continued with her lesson. "Am I clear?" she yelled louder this time at the red head whose hair was being pulled from behind her. Her back was facing Michelle so the blonde couldn't see the pained expression the Francine's face. "Fuck you," she spat.

The locker room doors swung open for the third time in less than five minutes. Entering were men in white blouse and black pants. Each of them wore a badge on their right best that read "Security". Their faces looked uncomfortable because of the fact that this was a female's locker room. "Let her go" one of the voices said firmly.

"She's trying to kill me!" Francine yelled fearfully. Michelle rolled her eyes. The bitch wasn't so scared a minute ago. Instead of sending another hit Michelle released the grip of Francine's hair. Even though she had defended herself she felt like a monster. Just a minute ago she didn't remember who she was, she blacked out. That wasn't Michelle who was fighting like that, it couldn't have been. She was never raised to be this monstrous to anybody no matter how bad they treated her. Picking up her bags she ran out the locker room not looking back at the alarmed glances from everyone in the room.

Hot tears flew down her face as she quickened her pace trying to find an exit of some kind. There were so many doors so many turns, if she didn't know what she was doing she would get lost. She just couldn't stand to let these people see her cry no matter if they cared about her or not.

Coming across an abandoned hall way Michelle made her way to the last room on the right. Something about its location made her feel safe and secret. Quickly opening the door her eyes widened with horror as she stared face to face at what was taking place in front of her. There was a guy with buzz cutted blonde hair; in his hand was a beer. His pants and boxers were at his ankles and there was an unknown female face attended to what was in between his legs. The sights of the female's head bobbing up and down and the satisfied grin on the man's face was enough to make Michelle light headed. "I'm so sorry," she stumbled over her words quickly shutting the door before anything could be said.

Michelle was running at this point to get away. This was turning out to be the worst night ever. A mental image lingered in the back of her head of what she just witnessed. Nothing she could do could shake it off. Nothing she could do could make her forget about how she turned into a different person. Michelle only hoped that no one really gave a damn about who she was like Spike had said.

Coming to a stop the blonde no longer had the desire to find a good place to be alone. She pressed her back against the wall and took a deep breath. Maybe she was just over reacting. To her defense Francine had it coming to her since the night started. If she had let the bitch push her around everyone in the locker room would do the same thing soon enough.

"You look like you got the world on your shoulders, Palatka," Rob Van Dam's voice broke away Michelle's deep thoughts. The only thing she could do was look at him with her mouth slightly open. This was embarrassing to say the least. ECW's champion runs into Michelle with stale tears on her cheeks and a possibly runny nose. Rob laughed. "Relax, I haven't been here long. You were so caught up in whatever you were thinking you didn't even notice my hello."

"Sorry about that," there was a lot of shame in Michelle's voice. Van Dam nodded, "Don't beat yourself up."

Somehow Michelle found herself to chuckle. "Was that pun intended?"

"Not at all," Rob said defensively. "Honestly, I think you did the right thing."

"So I guess you did hear. I was hoping you'd tell me that you didn't know what I was talking about,"

"I'm the champ, I know everything." Rob said confidently. "And if that's what you're so down about then you shouldn't be."

"Why?"

"Because if I were you I'd probably do the same thing. She's the biggest whore in this building she had no right walking around with her nose up at you."

Michelle looked down, grinning weakly. "When she threw that first punch I felt something come out of me that I never felt before. I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to." Michelle confessed. "I felt like a monster," as she said 'monster' she tried her best to hold back the tears. Luckily she was successful. "I guess I…kinda scared myself."

Rob said nothing only listened. When she was done talking he still remained silent.

"I'm sorry if I'm talking too much," Michelle continued nervously.

"No, no words are good." Rob said. "You obviously needed to get that off your chest."

"Thank you." Michelle gave a weak smile.

"You did say you felt like a monster right?" Rob grinned. "I think you've come to the right place.


End file.
